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Louis Farrakhan sees a new opening for black separatist message in U.S.

After a presidential campaign that emboldened white identity politics, the Nation of Islam, a black separatist religious movement, is positioning itself as newly relevant

In a speech to the State of the Black World Conference after the presidential election, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan warned, “The white man is going to push. ... My message to Mr. Trump: Push it real good. Push it so good that black people say, ‘I’m outta here. I can’t take it no more.’ ”
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press file photo)

By Sophia Tareen And Rachel ZollAssociated Press

Sun., Dec. 18, 2016

CHICAGO—Minister Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, spoke from a podium draped in the red, black and green of the Pan-African flag, a symbol of black pride.

It was the week after Donald Trump won the presidency. The result had delighted a new generation of white supremacists, and Farrakhan was analyzing the political landscape.

In a speech before the State of the Black World Conference in New Jersey, he warned, “The white man is going to push. He’s putting in place the very thing that will limit the freedom of others.” Then he pointed to the crowd, smiled and said, “That’s what you needed,” as motivation to finally separate from whites.

“My message to Mr. Trump: Push it real good,” Farrakhan said, building to a roar that drew applause and cheers. “Push it so good that black people say, ‘I’m outta here. I can’t take it no more.’ ”

After a presidential campaign that emboldened white identity politics, the Nation of Islam, a black separatist religious movement, is positioning itself as newly relevant.

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Some watchdogs who monitor Farrakhan say his latest appeal is a desperate grasp at significance for a group far from its heyday. However, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremism, has found black separatism growing alongside white supremacy, creating a more favourable environment for the Nation’s teachings.

“Racial nationalism of all kinds is on the rise,” said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Theresa X, an alcohol and drug counsellor from Northern California, said after this “vicious” election, she hoped others, including her Mexican-American relatives, would follow her into the Nation of Islam, which she joined in the 1980s. “I think they should,” she said in a phone interview. “They’re afraid.”

The Nation has been largely closed off to outsiders, making it impossible even for those who follow the movement closely to gauge its strength. Neither Farrakhan nor the head minister of the movement’s Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Ishmael Muhammad, responded to interview requests.

Still, Farrakhan and his message of black empowerment clearly have an ongoing impact. The Million Man March he organized in 1995, drawing hundreds of thousands to Washington, remains a cultural touchstone, and hip-hop artists praise him in their music. The Nation has an extensive prison ministry, along with health and social service programs, and the movement’s militia, the Fruit of Islam, provides security at public housing and elsewhere.

That name recognition and high level of organization has left the Nation well situated to take advantage of the current political moment, including the emergence of Black Lives Matter protests over police shootings of black men.

“We have to turn to each other,” said Nation member Duane Muhammad, 63, a Chicago-area elected official who helps produce videos of Farrakhan.

Online, the Nation’s presence has grown. Sunday services from Mosque Maryam are streamed live. Farrakhan’s public speeches and sermons are on YouTube. He has more than 637,000 followers on Facebook and 462,000 on Twitter.

Mikal Nash, a professor at Essex County College in Newark and author of Muslims in Newark, New Jersey: A Social History, said he has noticed increasing interest in “the voice of people like Minister Farrakhan much the same way there’s been an interest in the voice of Donald Trump.”

During the campaign, Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists, advocated policies that put Muslims under general suspicion and drew an endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan. The president-elect has been criticized for being slow to condemn white supremacists.

“I think people are attracted to those voices as a result of a racially polarized society,” Nash said. “This election, you could see the whole issue of race arose more than any election in my lifetime.”

During the campaign, Farrakhan sent mixed signals about Trump, indicating the minister saw some reflection of his world view in the candidate’s rhetoric, including the Republican’s talk of a “global power structure” that has rigged the economy. Farrakhan has long promoted conspiracy theories, blaming Israel and Jews for the Sept. 11 attacks, and accusing Jews of controlling the American government.

In an extensive interview last January with Alex Jones of InfoWars, a conservative website that traffics in conspiracy theories, Farrakhan described Trump as a “businessman par excellence” and agreed with Trump’s proposal to more strongly vet refugees from Muslim countries, pointing to the resentment generated by American policies in the Muslim world.

“The hatred for America is in the streets now,” Farrakhan told Jones. “Now, if you let them in and you don’t vet them carefully, you might be letting in your own destruction.”

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